I have been looking to do a 8mm. Barrel s are real cheap I picked up 4 mauser barrels for $15.00 for all 4 off ebay. I was thinking the steel g3 mags at $2.00 a piece could be band sawed length wise and welded bak together fairly easy, 2 mags to make one, would have to mod the follwers also. they are straight and have a nice flat area to work with. I looked for some m76 mags a while back and was not suscessful. how ever I was told that there was possabley going to be some imported and to call back in June. Saiga is susposed to be exporting a 30-06 according to what I read 2 months ago. If it is avaliable I doubt I would bother to do a conversion to 8mm. you almost need to reload to get the full benifet of the 8mm factory ammo is on the weak side due to all the old 1899 stuff still out there. I thnk the CUP pressures are about the same as 7.62x 39
I was thinking a 8mm long barrel pistol for hunting. but if I get the 308 conversion working there is a ton other rounds based on the 308 caseing
22-308, 243, 7mm-08 ( a very nice round only 100fps slower than 7 mag) 358-08 1.5"-308 and a bunch of wild cat stuff as well. that would all work with the g3 or m14 mags.

Ohio rapid fire makes a 8mm reciver. I did not see any mags on there site though http://www.ohiorapidfire.com . as far as a .50 cal AK not in BMG but in a .50 pistol or rifle it may be possable. I would like to have a .410 and 20 guage trunion to mess with .410 brass measures .535 at the rim. this tells me that a rimless .50 case could be done. ( ever since I found this web site I spend hours in a poorly lit room with a pile of kits a box full of empty misc brass that I stole from my 6 year old and a Mic, calipers and a tape measure and this damm computer) I thought about a .50 AK just to say I did it. Proably want to start with light loads.

as far as a .50 cal AK not in BMG but in a .50 pistol or rifle it may be possable. I would like to have a .410 and 20 guage trunion to mess with .410 brass measures .535 at the rim. this tells me that a rimless .50 case could be done. ( ever since I found this web site I spend hours in a poorly lit room with a pile of kits a box full of empty misc brass that I stole from my 6 year old and a Mic, calipers and a tape measure and this damm computer) I thought about a .50 AK just to say I did it. Proably want to start with light loads.

AH! I thought I'd never find that Beowulf conversion pic. Thanks for finding that! THat was a SAR they just converted, and seeing as how the .50 Beowulf uses a 5.56x45 "necked-up" round, that would be a real easy conversion - new barrel, fit the magazine lips and probably nothing else. May be easier than most other conversions!

I've converted an 8mm bolt action to a .308 simply by changing out the barrel. The rounds fed fine from the magazine, bolt face matched... no changes anywhere else.

Maybe it's apples and oranges. But it makes sense to me that I could concievable buy me a .308 Saiga, turn a 8mm barrel for it from a blank (wich are fairly common and cheap, I might add)... and that's that. Bolt and everything should work fine, no? Probably need a bigger mag well... mag issues?? An 8mm round is too long to stuff into any .308 mag I suppose?? Is the Yugo 8mm AK the only weapon with a mag that would work for this?? Just curious as to other ppl's thoughts about this as a possible conversion. There's gotta be an alternative to dishing out 1K for a bag'o parts to build into an 8mm AK. Anyone? Thoughts? Opinions?

Here are my thoughts (for free)...

I agree with the other posts that the use of the .308 Saiga would require some fitting since the bullet is longer. IT would be more accurate to compare this to a 7.62x54R - the Dragunov and PKM round - instead of a .308 round.

Let's assume you're going the full route, with a pistol grip conversion to restore the Saiga to its intended form. Let's also assume you're going to do "whatever it takes" to make it work.

Magazine fit.
I am not sure that it would be a good idea to "create" the extra clearance by grinding down the trunion. Therefore, I would consider moving the trigger guard back. Obviously, judicious dremel work on the magazine well area would be necessary for whatever magazine fit you require.

You would most likely need to enlarge the magazine well front-to-back and maybe relocate the trigger guard back. I would weld up the existing holes, then redrill brand new trigger guard holes. If the distance is enough, you could relocate it by removing it, using the two existing rear rivet holes for the front of the trigger guard, and drill two more rivet holes for the rear holes.

That would give you a bit less room in front of the trigger, but not my much. If you had to move it no more than about 1/8 - 3/16" then I doubt you would even notice the difference unless you wore gloves or had real fat fingers!

Bolt & Trunion.
The .308 is over-engineered for the larger round. Of course, so is the AK for the 7.62x39 round. I would have to dig out my ROMAK-3 parts to look more closely, but looking through the plastic, the bolt looks just like a 7.62x39 bolt with an RPK/Yugo style trunion.

Assuming that's true, two conclusions can be drawn - you should have enough meat to accomodate the 8mm round if you convert, and OTOH a $100 Yugo kit could be employed without needing to retrofit a more expensive gun. Point being, that maybe a parts kit conversion would be better?

Ejector.
The same would be true for the ejector. You'd *probably* be OK using a default .308 ejector, but if not you could relocate the Saiga ejector back by grinding the front. You may consider even putting a weld bead on the back just to give it some more meat.

Gas port.
A bigger hole would mean more gas bleed, meaning more kick and a more energetic (read: violent) cycle. The higher-power round may need a smaller gas port to keep the action from cycling so harshly. I'd consider a recoil buffer as well.

Ammo.
8mm ammo is like any other full-power round. You have your ammo and then you have your HOT ammo. HOT ammo as in on the right side of the reloading charts. HOT ammo that is good for a thick machine gun or bolt-action weapon. I'm sure we probably have all read about old chambers failing due to crappy ammo of different calibers. I can think of threads I've read about 7.62x25, .308, .303, and 7.62x54R issues. I'd be real hesitant to shoot just any old ammo through it, since you could have some safety issues there. Reloads would give good control of course, but if you find a good ammo selection I'd buy a bunch and stick to it.

I could almost guarantee that all 8mm ammo is corrosive... dunno about that, but something to consider. A nice SS piston from hotbarrel would be a must-have part IMO.

US parts - the parts count is obviously an issue, and that would be easier with a parts kit conversion, since the Saiga would need a piston (1), FCG (2,3,4), pistol grip (5), and then the 6th part from wherever - muzzle brake? US buttstock? Floorplate?

Other than those issues, I'm at a loss as to what else I would consider for the conversion. Could it be done? Sure - if not then the Yugo M76 would have never been built!